Every so often a giant emerges on the stage of science, someone who transcends the narrow boundaries of a particular line of research and alters our perspective on the world. E.O. Wilson is such a man. NOVA's Lord of the Ants profiles this soft-spoken Southerner renowned for his scientific study of ants that led to his 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, where he put forth the notion that evolutionary principles could explain social behavior throughout the animal kingdom, including in humans. Though sociobiology was a controversial new discipline at the time, today experimental science shows that genes do play a role in aspects of human behavior. E.O. Wilson is an icon of our times: a lord of the ants who sought to explain nature on earth and who now fights for its survival through his worldwide conservation efforts. Actor and environmentalist Harrison Ford narrates this engaging portrait of a ceaselessly active scientist and eloquent writer, who has accumulated two Pulitzer Prizes among his many other honors. |
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